Free software is simply software that respects our freedom — our freedom to learn and understand the software we are using. Free software is designed to free the user from restrictions put in place by proprietary software, and so using free software lets you join a global community of people who are making the political and ethical assertion of our rights to learn and to share what we learn with others.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Free Software Supporter - Issue 69, December 2013

Free Software Supporter

Issue 69, December 2013

Support our winter fundraiser with a donation

The Free Software Foundation depends on the contributions of our supporters to provide us with the resources to defend and further the free software movement.
Donate today to help us build a world where every computer user is able to use software without sacrificing their essential freedoms. Your donation will help us meet our annual fundraising goal of $450,000 by January 31st. Contributions can be made at https://u.fsf.org/r9.
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update -- being read by you and 74,210 other activists. That's 1,702 more than last month!
View this issue online here: https://www.fsf.org/free-software-supporter/2013/december
Encourage your friends to subscribe and help us build an audience by adding our subscriber widget to your web site.

Build us up! Free software is a cornerstone of a free society

They know when you are sleeping. They know when you're awake. They know if you've been bad or good... You guessed it. We're not talking about Santa. The NSA and the world's big Internet and telecommunications companies have built a massive Surveillance Industrial Complex that undermines all our freedoms.

Gluglug X60 Laptop now certified to Respect Your Freedom

From December 19th
The FSF has awarded Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to Gluglug X60 laptops. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. This is the first laptop to receive RYF certification from the FSF.

LibrePlanet for all!

From December 23rd
Everyone at the FSF is excited for LibrePlanet 2014, and to make it the best conference yet, we've launched a scholarship fund so that we can bring free software movers and shakers to Cambridge in March for the conference.

FSF responds to Microsoft's privacy and encryption announcement

From December 5th
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new effort to "[protect] customer data from government snooping." FSF executive director John Sullivan issued a statement in response to Microsoft's announcement.

FSF: Reform corporate surveillance

From December 11th
A group of technology companies, most of whom were implicated in handing user information over to the NSA, recently came together to ask world governments to reform the way they conduct surveillance. FSF executive director John Sullivan wrote a statement pointing out how proprietary software vendors have enabled government surveillance around the world.

Windows 8: A "certifiable flop"

Ask reddit to upvote user freedom by serving no nonfree JavaScript

From December 27th
Reddit is a major Internet hub that's home to lots of awesome communities, and it's always been very supportive of computer user freedom. Since 2008, the vast majority of the codebase has been available under a free software license, but the JavaScript that reddit.com serves its users isn't labeled with the licensing information necessary for it to meet the free software definition.

Interview with Frank Karlitschek of ownCloud

From December 20th
In this edition of our Licensing and Compliance Lab's series on free software developers who choose GNU licenses for their works, we conducted an email-based interview with Frank Karlitschek, the lead developer of ownCloud, a server software project that provides universal access to your files via the Web, your computer, or your mobile devices — wherever you are.

GNU Press announces gray GPLv3 hoodies

From December 10th
Stay warm this winter with our GPLv3 hoodie, now available in gray! The front of the hoodie features the stylish "GPLv3: Free as in Freedom" logo in maroon, with the v3 logo emblazoned on the back.

GnuPG - Sixteen years of protecting privacy

By Same Tuke, from December 20th
It's been sixteen years since the first release of GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). In that time the project has grown from being a hacker's hobby into one of the world's most critical anti-surveillance tools. Today GnuPG stands at the front line of the battle between invasive surveillance and civil liberties.

Join the FSF and friends in updating the Free Software Directory

From December 31st
Tens of thousands of people visit https://directory.fsf.org each month to discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of useful information, from basic category and descriptions to version control, IRC channels, documentation, and licensing. The Free Software Directory has been a great resource to software users over the past decade, but it needs your help staying up-to-date with new and exciting free software projects.
To help, join our weekly IRC meetings on Fridays. Meetings take place in the #fsf channel on irc.gnu.org, and usually include a handful of regulars as well as newcomers. Everyone's welcome.
The next meeting is Friday, January 3rd from 2pm to 5pm EST (19:00 to 22:00 UTC). Details here:

LibrePlanet featured resource: LibreDWG

Every month on LibrePlanet, we highlight one resource that is interesting and useful -- often one that could use your help.
For this month, we are highlighting LibreDWG, which provides information about GNU LibreDWG, an effort to develop a free C library to handle DWG files. You are invited to adopt, spread and improve this important resource.

Take action with the FSF

Contributions from thousands of individual members enable the FSF's work. You can contribute by joining at https://www.fsf.org/join. If you're already a member, you can help refer new members (and earn some rewards) by adding a line with your member number to your email signature like:
I'm an FSF member -- Help us support software freedom! https://www.fsf.org/jf?referrer=2442
The FSF is also always looking for volunteers (https://www.fsf.org/volunteer). From rabble-rousing to hacking, from issue coordination to envelope stuffing -- there's something here for everybody to do. Also, head over to our campaign section (https://www.fsf.org/campaigns) and take action on software patents, DRM, free software adoption, OpenDocument, RIAA and more.